Teen vows to keep Berkeley case alive

Published 4:00 am, Friday, July 14, 2000

Whenever Peta Cooper visited friends in Berkeley, she would stop by the Pasand Madras Indian Cuisine restaurant to eat.

But that ritual ended in January when she found out that the owner of the restaurant and East Bay real estate tycoon, Lakireddy Bali Reddy, had been charged with smuggling teenage girls from India so he could have sex with them.

"I was shocked, literally," said Cooper, 17, who lives in the Richmond District. "My friends and I would go in and eat in there and we would see him. It was shocking how this could happen."

Cooper stopped frequenting the restaurant and made it her crusade to let other potential customers know the charges against Reddy and the plight of the young women.

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She co-founded the online club "Boycott Pasand" last month, and is organizing a walk-a-thon across the Golden Gate Bridge to raise money for the Indian girls, who are being cared for by Narika, a South Asian women's advocacy group in the East Bay.

The walk is set for July 23.

"I can't see myself giving (Reddy) money. I can't see how other people can give him money. It's really a stomach-turning (idea)," she said.

The Berkeley Police Department began investigating Reddy soon after an Indian teenager, then-identified as 17-year-old Sitha Vemireddy, and her younger sister were found unconscious last November in a one-bedroom apartment owned by the suspect.

The girls had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. Sitha was pronounced dead at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley while her sister survived.

The Bay Area news media reported the incident as a tragic accident for a family who just immigrated to the U.S. to better their lives.

But according to court records, the death prompted authorities to investigate a case that resulted in numerous federal charges against Reddy, his son Vijay Kumar Lakireddy, and Venkateshwara Vemireddy, the man who apparently posed as the victims' father so he could bring them from India.

An autopsy showed Sitha was pregnant when she died.

Reddy posted $10 million bail and must live with his brother in Merced until his federal trial in Oakland. Lakireddy was freed on $500,000 bail and Vemireddy was ordered to a half-way house in Oakland.

All three pleaded innocent.

The surviving sister and her roommate, also from Reddy's home village of Velvadam, India, told authorities they were sold to Reddy by their parents. The girls also stated Reddy had sex with them when he visited Velvadam and the relationship continued when they moved to the U.S.

The case caused an uproar among Bay Area Indian Americans, with some rallying to support the defendant while others protested his businesses.

Reddy's relative Sid Lakireddy said Wednesday the restaurant business has suffered by as much as 30 percent.

"It's fallen off quite a bit . . . . We have customers who have been faithful and we're thankful for it. It's an extended-family-owned business and there are many other families who work here and are dependent on the restaurant," Lakireddy said.

People have lost their jobs, but he won't say how many.

"The staff has been reduced . . . . That's all I'm going to say about that," he said.

The protests also caused a nightclub owner who rented space next to the Pasand to relocate.

Problems such as lack of parking and panhandlers were already on the mind of Pete Escovedo, the owner of Mr. E's, but the Reddy case made the situation worse.

"Every night after (Reddy's) arrest, we had pickets outside our door, chanting, driving people away and attracting the police," Escovedo told the Examiner in April.

As pretrial motions drag on for months, talk of Reddy, who owns 1,100 East Bay apartments, have tapered.

Cooper doesn't think people will forget the charges against Reddy, but she's concerned the victims will be forgotten.

"I want to raise money for the victims and I want to bring some peace in mind, especially for the

sister of the girl who died," she said. "They're basically isolated from the world and I basically want them to know that there are people who are supporting them, and there are people who are backing them up, and there are people who care."

Cooper's first trip to an Indian restaurant six years ago spurred her interest in the culture.

At 11, she started reading books about India and takes lessons in Kathak dance, a major classical dance of India.

Raising money for South Asian women's groups isn't new.

In May's Bay to Breakers race, she raised $400 from sponsors and donated the money to Maitri, a South Asian women's group in the South Bay.

"Tragedies come and tragedies go, but a tragedy goes when it's all put to rest. It hasn't been put to rest yet. It's been forgotten and we need to resurface it." &lt;